Public Health

Friends of Intelligent Democracy believes that public health is one of the most crucial policy areas.

Women's Reproductive Health
Women have an absolute right to their bodies. Since the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973, women have had legal access to abortion services, yet, nonetheless, there have been persistent efforts on the state and federal level to make these services inaccessible. Monumental legislation like Preisdent Obama's Affordable Care Act has helped improve access to healthcare resources for women and expecting mothers, but there is more work to be done. Friends of Intelligent Democracy supports:

Ensuring every woman has the right to choose to terminate a pregnancy without the interference of clergy, partner approval, harassment or political protest;

Making it illegal to harass any patient or employee coming in or out of a Planned Parenthood facility or any healthcare facility that provides reproductive health services ;

Upholding Affordable Care Act statutes that subsidized secure birth control to anyone who needs it to prevent unwanted pregnancy, ;

Planned Parenthood and other non-profits that provide high-quality and affordable medical care to women and men. Beyond their role in providing services for pregnancy termination, the medical examinations, testing, and mental and physical health resources that Planned Parenthood provides fill a need in society that would otherwise be left unfilled in their absence.

Vaccines
Vaccinations are a cost-effective, essential component of disease prevention in the United States that has led to the eradication of various infectious epidemics, such as smallpox and tuberculosis, which produce high mortality and morbidity amongst affected populations. Pusedoscience, fake news, and misinformation campagins cannot be allowed to obstruct public health efforts. Friends of Intelligent Democracy supports:

Mandating vaccinations for all children that enter public schools;

Eliminating philisophical, religious, and political exemptions and only allow for medical exemptions when a child is allergic to a vaccine's ingredients;

Awarding grants to community health centers to allow for underprivleged children to be vaccinated just like their peers;

Reqiuring that K-12 science cirricula include education on vaccination, public health and preventable disease to ensure that every American is educated on the importance of vaccines.